


Ho, Ho, Hold The Hell Up, Solace

by komasouda



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mortal, Christmas Fluff, M/M, Oneshot, Short & Sweet, holiday fic, this is a dumb mall au i came up with
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2015-12-25
Packaged: 2018-05-09 08:40:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5532872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/komasouda/pseuds/komasouda
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Here he was, in a stupid-ass elf costume that was scratchy and flamboyant and hideously festive, running the payment desk at a stupid mall Santa display. If the line of annoying crying children and rude parents wasn’t enough, he knew Jason and Piper were watching him and laughing at him from the windows of Forever 21. </p><p>Or, the one in which Nico's hell of a job is made just slightly better by a cute blond.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ho, Ho, Hold The Hell Up, Solace

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas, guys!  
> Just a heads up, this is only a festive oneshot for the holidays. Ten Realities and My Trusty Fork and Learn Your Lesson are going to be updated sometime this week, so fret not!  
> As always, you can check out my Tumblr [here](http://luciferslittlekitten.tumblr.com/)

Nico hated everything. 

Here he was, in a stupid-ass elf costume that was scratchy and flamboyant and hideously festive, running the payment desk at a stupid mall Santa display. If the line of annoying crying children and rude parents wasn’t enough, he knew Jason and Piper were watching him and laughing at him from the windows of Forever 21. 

He scowled and rang up the mom at the counter, her son wailing and crying. She wasn’t even trying to silence him. He wanted to tape the mouths of all these brats shut. 

He plastered on a smile and motioned the two inside the glittery gates before he felt a hand on his shoulder. Hazel looked him with a mixture of sympathy and mirth. She giggled a little bit and Nico narrowed his eyes. He hadn’t even worn anything this colorful in his life.

“You look like you could use a coffee…” She said through her laughter. Nico sighed deeply at the comment.

“No fucking shit, Hazel.”

“Excuse you, young man!”

The suburban mother in front of him looked scandalized. Nico bit back a snarky remark. “Sorry, ma’am. That’ll be fifteen dollars.” The women pulled a twenty out of her purse and ushered her kid inside without taking change. Nico awarded himself the five dollars she gave extra. He deserved it.

“You look like you’re about to murder someone.” Hazel commented, patting Nico’s shoulder a little. “I’m on break, but I can back and grab you a coffee. Or maybe Chai tea? Shot of espresso?”

“It’s fine, Hazel. I just need to get off this shift…”

“I’ll get you a Chai tea.” She decided, “Be right back!”

Nico sighed. He loved Hazel to bits and pieces, but she could be a ditz sometimes.

He rang up the woman in front of him and her snot-nosed son. They stepped inside and her son dropped his candycane he had been nosily sucking on. Nico groaned softly, bending down to pick it up by the very tip with two fingers and drop it in the trash. He sighed, straightened up, and spoke his usual line to the customer in front of him. 

Only it wasn’t a suburban mom this time. It was a teenager. Tall, built, blond hair and blue eyes, and he grinned down at Nico. He knew the guy too- Will Solace. He was quite popular at school, to say the least. And why wouldn’t he be? He was funny and charming and smart and perfect and-

He forced his brain to slow down and stop working a mile a millisecond.

“Hey, my little sister,” he nudged at a girl at his side. She had the same eye and hair color, but clutched to the boy’s leg, “wants to meet Santa. How much?”

He fingered the five dollars in his pockets, “Just ten.”

“Only ten?” He furrowed his brow, but shrugged and pulled a bill from his wallet. Nico placed it in the register with his five. Why the hell was he paying for a guy he didn’t know? Sure, he’d seen him around, hanging out with friends or in the halls, but they’d never really talked.

“Come on, Kayla,” he urged, taking his sister’s hand and leading her to the line of kids waiting to sit on Santa’s lap. She looked fidgety, but he only kneeled down to kiss her and then stood next to the couches where the moms sat.

Travis came to pick up his shift then, so he pulled off the stupid elf hat and unbuttoned the pull-over jacket. Will was staring at him so he averted his eyes. When he tossed the colorful elf overcoat aside, the boy stepped towards him.

“Hi,” he said, looking somewhat sheepish, “I’m Will.”

Nico wanted to say he knew, but he didn’t. “Nico, nice to meet you.” He held out his hand for Will to shake it, and he did.

“You make a cute elf.” Will commented with a small laugh. Nico felt a blush rise to his cheeks. God, he hoped Piper was busy at the checkout counter and that Jason forgot his glasses at home.

“Thanks. You too.” He paused, eyes widening, “Oh, god, no I didn’t-,”

Will only laughed some more, making Nico feel a lot less awkward. “It’s cool. I bet I’d make a lovely elf.”

Nico rolled his eyes, but couldn’t stop a small smile from forming on his lips. “Definitely.”

Will looked over at Kayla. “Only three more kids to wait. How do you stand all these children?”

"I don’t,” Nico shrugged, “I want to put a gun to my head every hour I’m here.”

“Maybe you should get a better job. One that doesn’t want to make you commit suicide.”

“Does such a job exist?”

Will laughed some more. Nico found himself liking the sound of it. “No, I suppose not. I work at Hot Topic, and it’s pretty alright. I’m off today, but Kayla needed a new dress for my mom’s Christmas party-,” he held up a bag, “and wanted to come see Santa.”

Nico blinked at Will. “You work at Hot Topic?"

“I know, I don’t exactly look the part.” Will said as if he’d heard it before, “But, besides all the edgy preteens and emos I like it. The Marvel and DC merch is really cool.” He had inclined his head toward Nico at the emo comment, which the shorter boy acknowledged with a scoff.

“I would’ve much preferred to work there,” Nico admitted, “but, alas, here I am. Stuck in the North fucking Pole.”

Will put on a mock scandalized expression. “Nico! The children!”

Nico rolled his eyes. “Oh, please.”

“Speaking of such foul words, don’t you have language class with me?”

Nico was momentarily taken aback. He hadn’t known that Will recognized him. “Uh, yes. Mr. Webber.”

“Yeah! Lord, that old sonovabitch is really rusty with his teaching, wouldn’t you say? I don’t think he covered anything on the damn final.”

“Totally,” Nico agreed, “I’m so happy we’re on break. It’ll help me cope with the stress of not getting a good grade on that test.”

“What?” Will looked genuinely disbelieving, “You’re the smartest guy in the class! You can quote freakin’ Hamlet, Nico.”

“I just like old-timey literature.” Nico shrugged. Bianca teased him for it, but he’d always had a love for the classics.

Will scrunched up his nose. “Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs.”

“That’s Romeo and Juliet.”

“Dammit, uh…” Will shook his head, “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.”

“Midsummer’s Night Dream.”

Will tapped his foot on the ground and bit the inside of his cheek, “Fair is foul, and foul is fair?”

Nico almost laughed. “That’s Macbeth.”

Will groaned in frustration, “Well, I know I bombed that test.”

“Don’t sweat it! We only read the first few acts of Hamlet and it wasn’t a big part of the test. Only a couple questions.”

“Whatever,” Will sighed, “You know, I’ve been wanting to talk to you in class, but I would hate getting you in trouble and you always bolt out right when the bell rings.”

“What can I say? I don’t normally strike up conversations like this.” This was, for the most part, true. He didn’t make friends unless they were annoyingly persistent, understanding of his quietness, and talked enough to make up for the both of them. Hence why he always hung out with Jason and Piper.

“Well, glad you gave me a chance, elf boy,” Will flashed him a smile, “Hey, lookit- Kayla’s up now.”

Kayla scooted up the line and onto Santa’s lap. Will watched her, the conversation falling shortly silent as he did, before his little sister began shaking. Silent tears trekked down her face as Santa tried desperately to calm her down. “Oh, god,” Will muttered, racing up to grab his little sister. She wasn’t crying loudly. Only an occasional sniff or sob. Nico still felt terrible.

“Are you sure she wanted to see Santa?” he asked, grabbing a tissue and handing it to Will. He gratefully took it, dabbing at Kayla’s tears.

“No,” he admitted, “I just…” Will blushed now, “I wanted to talk to the cute elf boy.” He felt around in his back pocket before pulling out a piece of paper and shoving it in Nico’s general direction and bolting off. He soon lost sight of Will in the crowds of people. The note had fluttered to the floor, so he knelt down to retrieve it. Once he was standing, he looked down at the note and noticed that there was a phone number scrawled onto it.

“Well,” Nico whipped around to see Hazel, holding his Chai tea, staring at him with an arched eyebrow and eyes full of amusement, “How was your shift?”


End file.
